Minister of Youth, Comrade Ayodele Olawande, has requested that the management of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, change its programme to allow corps members to have enough rest during their 21-day orientation camp.
The minister made the call during the 2025 annual management conference, themed ‘Transforming the NYSC Scheme to meet the yearnings of the contemporary Nigerian graduates and society’, held in Abuja on Monday.
According to him, the potential corps members would be more active if the time was changed to allow camp drills to begin later in the day, at around 7:00 am, rather than the customary 4:00 am daily routine.
The minister stated that he is committed to the wellbeing of Nigerian youth and that he has already begun consultations to make this a reality.
“The NYSC members should be permitted to begin drilling by 7:00 am, rather than 4:00 am,” he stated.
Does drilling have a function for us? For what reason do we drill? We are not advocating against drilling. There should be drilling. However, we discuss unity in variety. They are joining us in solidarity, and that is the major purpose.
Therefore, how can we continue to focus on introducing new innovations? How can you be lazy when you are busy, conducting research, changing your methods, making amends in your life, and all of that within three weeks? Laziness is not an option.
“What we’re saying is that in order to have a job market, you need to rejuvenate your brain and make it function with what we currently have.”
Are we employable in the labor market since we started drilling? We cannot keep releasing 480,000 individuals year with no significant progress.
“Look, nothing is there. There isn’t a job, a house, or an institution where you can keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different outcome.
For this reason, we are claiming to be seeing beyond. We want to think beyond the box in order to achieve it, which is why you see all these directors; I can assure you that they are energetic. They want to do the right thing now that the energy has returned; it’s not that they weren’t doing it previously, but he wants to do it more.